Bumpers

[Hellfeier675]

Thank you, but that raises the question, if we have bumpers on all sides, then we are covering the whole bumper perimeter and have bumpers on all corners, however we still have a gap that isn't breaking rules cause it's not a gap larger than 8 inches covered by bumpers.

[notmattlythgoe]

The BUMPER backing must be supported by the structure/frame of the ROBOT (i.e. the
gap between the backing material and the frame must not be greater than 1/4” and no
section of BUMPER greater than 8” may be unsupported). See Figure 3-3.

This states the rules on the gaps BEHIND bumpers. You cann't have holes in your bumpers, but you may have a gap BEHIND the bumpers that is up to 8 inches.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Hellfeier675

Thank you, but that raises the question, if we have bumpers on all sides, then we are covering the whole bumper perimeter and have bumpers on all corners, however we still have a gap that isn't breaking rules cause it's not a gap larger than 8 inches covered by bumpers.

The wording of the rule can be confusing. The FRAME PERIMETER and therefore the BUMPER PERIMETER is defined by the outermost set of vertices. In the example you provided, those would be the four outer corners of the robot. The FRAME PERIMETER does NOT include the two corners set back in the frame cutout, because those are not the outermost vertices.

Therefore, when you perform the string test, you get a rectangular loop of string which wraps around the four corners of the robot, and does not protrude into the cutout. It's a very long-winded way of saying you can't have part of your bumper perimeter which is concave.

With the string test above, you can see that the string goes across the gap, and therefore represents part of your BUMPER PERIMETER which does not have support for bumpers, and is illegal per rule <R07> K.

The rule is functionally identical to last year's bumper rules.